OCTOBER 27-29 2017

This third annual event is a two-day gathering for those of us LGBTQ people who are living, creating, working, and organizing in rural communities and small towns.

Out in the Open is a space to vent, strategize, connect, build, reflect, think, experience, and make. Folks from any rural community or small town are welcome to join us although we anticipate the majority of attendees to be from the Northeast US.

We encourage participants to bring in to all of these sessions thoughts, questions, and strategies connected to struggles for justice against racism, classism, misogyny, incarceration, police brutality, ableism, fascism, transphobia, and other oppressions.

Read on for more details and feel free to be in touch with any questions!

12:30-2:00 LUNCH (provided) - A brief people of color caucus/check-in will be available during this time (12:50-1:20p with an option to extend through lunch) A brief working class people caucus/check-in will be available during this time (from 1:25-1:55 - not co-occurring with the POC caucus)2:00-4:00 - SESSION 2 - Art & Expression

More details

Our intent with this gathering is to bring together individuals, regardless of organizational affiliation, to discuss, prioritize, strategize, about our rural and small town LGBTQ experiences. In an attempt to have no single organization dominate the conversation, we intend to have no more than three folks from an organization at the gathering.

This year's event has been planned in collaboration with a planning committee of seven folks who attended the 2016 event along with Green Mountain Crossroads' executive director, HB Lozito. If you would like to help plan the 2018 event, connect with us at the Summit in October.In an effort to have a gathering that is small enough to meet most people, yet large enough to have a strong diversity of experience, this year's Summit will be limited to 75 people.

These are participatory sessions; not lectures. We want to delve into the experience, knowledge, creativity, and expertise that exists within the group. Come prepared to share and work!

If you have a session you're interested in offering that fits within the three sessions topics (Living on the Land & Eating from it, Organizing for Justice, or Art & Expression), get in touch!

Registration, Accessibility, Location, and Lodging

You must be registered to attend and we'll post updates when the event is nearly full and at capacity.

We have reserved 10 tickets for those who are unable to pay the registration fee. If this is you, please email HB to discuss. There is no volunteer requirement for a subsidized ticket.

Accessibility

If you need an American Sign Language or another language interpreter, please contact HB Lozito by September 27, 2017.

We will be at the beautiful Hilltop Montessori School in Brattleboro, Vermont. There are all-gender bathrooms available and the location is wheelchair accessible.

Only service dogs will be allowed at the Summit. Please leave all other pets at home (or another safe place!).

Dietary restrictions and other food-related needs can be shared with us during the registration survey.

We are striving to make this event fragrance-free. GMC will provide unscented soap for our use during the weekend. More information on how and why to be fragrance-free below:

Please come without fragrances on your clothes, body, or hair so that members of our community with chemical sensitivities can participate without getting sick. More information about why and how to do this is available here: http://www.therootsjc.org/fragrance-free.html

There is no alcohol or tobacco use on campus. We will share details about walking-distance smoking areas off-campus during the Summit (or can share those with you before as well! Just email for details).

Lodging

If you are interested in staying with some local folks, we can put you in touch with people who can potentially host Summit participants. Please contact HB Lozito for details on this option.

GRACE JOHNSTON (she/her, they/them) My youth was spent in the suburbs of south-central CT, and small towns or rural places have been my chosen home since-- 8 + years in Western MA and now residing in Ithaca, NY. I am an early childhood educator by trade. I am excited about anti-racistcollective organizing, supporting families of all kinds, creatingaccessible resources to translate radical concepts into every-day relevance, and practicing/facilitating mind-body connections. Here, I am pictured eating a cookie, as they come third in life after my partner and my dog, Pilot. I am looking forward to getting to know this year's Summit group and sharing in conversation and fun times!

HB LOZITO (they/them) - I grew up in rural central Maine, started farming when I was 19, and since 2014 have been the ED of Green Mountain Crossroads working to build the power of rural LGBTQ people from Brattleboro, Vermont.

I am also newly a primary caregiver to a small human, am a spoon carver, baker, letterpress artist, oral historian, and living in town as a first-time homeowner with my fab partner and our sweet dog, among many other things. Can't wait to meet/see everyone in October!

LILY JOSLIN (they/them, she/her) - I'm originally from an agricultural community outside of Portland, OR, and spent the last 9 years working to build a better food system in rural and small-town Maine through organizing, educating, feeding, or some combination of the three. In June, I moved back to Oregon to complete my Masters in Sustainable Food Systems and steward my family’s land.A very, very large chunk of my heart still resides in New England.

Thanks to Planned Parenthood of Northern New England for providing safer sex supplies!